Stanley mum feared for her life in gas explosion

Elisha Oliver was in her home with nine-month-old daughter Brooke when the house next door exploded

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A MUM-OF-ONE has told of the terrifying moment a gas explosion ripped through a neighbouring property, blasting out windows and doors.

Just minutes after reporting the strong smell of gas to her supplier, Elisha Oliver heard a deafening “boom” as her home shook with the explosion.

Terrified there could be a follow-up blast, the 19-year-old ran upstairs to her sleeping baby and grabbing her fled into the street trying to get as far away from the terraced house as possible.

Still reeling from the shock of the freak blast, Elisha, who has lived in William Street, near Stanley, County Durham for the past year, said: “I’d been out most of the day with my nine-month-old daughter Brooke at my nephew’s birthday party.

“I got home at about 7pm and could smell gas. I didn’t know where it was coming from so opened the windows to try and air my house.”

With Brooke asleep upstairs, Elisha phoned her mum Yolanda Di’Carlo, who lives in the same street, to see if she too could smell gas. Having contacted the gas board to report their concerns, the pair were sat in the living room when minutes later, at about 9pm on Saturday, they heard an almighty bang from next door which shook the walls.

Dust clouds caused by the explosion billowed out on to the terraced street as all of the windows in the downstairs of the property next door were blown out sending glass shattering into the road.

Elisha, who is yet to return to her home, said: “I heard a massive explosion like a bomb going off and the house next door blew up. The windows were blown out and my property was shaking as if there’d been an earthquake. I’m still in shock and have never experienced anything like this. The blast seems to have caused a lot of structural damage to the downstairs of the property but what if it has been upstairs and the walls to Elisha’s bedroom had been affected?

“After the explosion, another neighbour went into the property to check there was no-one left inside and said his eyes were stinging from the overpowering smell of gas.”

Receiving reports of a fire in the street, two crews from High Hadenhold Fire Station attended the scene, where they discovered debris.

A fire service spokesman said: “The first crew on the scene found no fire or burning, so our role was to assess the scene and make it safe and stable. A structural engineer was requested because of damage to the mid-terraced property, and it was found this was a gas leak from the mains supply rather than from a cannister.

“Five people who’d been in the house were evacuated before crews arrived and one woman was taken to hospital suffering minor burns. The gas supply was capped to stop any further from escaping.”

It is thought new tenants only moved into the privately-owned property last week.

A Durham Police spokesman said: “As far as we are concerned, workmen have been at the address and have accidentally punctured a gas pipe which has leaked for a number of hours and it was then ignited. There is no criminal element to what happened.”

Waiting to be rehomed, Elisha, who’d just spent £200 on new flooring and carpets for her home, added: “I took Brooke to the hospital to have her checked out as she’d been breathing in gas for two hours but luckily they gave her the all-clear.

“It could have been so much worse. We still can’t believe something like this has happened.”